The turbine section of a gas turbine is comprised of a plurality of stages, each including a set of stationary vanes and a set of rotating blades. Hot gas is directed through the vanes to impinge upon the blades causing rotation of turbine rotor assembly to which they are connected. The power imparted to the rotor assembly may be used to rotate other machinery such as an electric generator, by way of example.
Advanced turbine systems have been developed which use vanes made of ceramic matrix composite material which can withstand much higher temperatures than conventional metal vanes. These high temperature vanes are connected to a metallic support arrangement. A problem arises however, in that the ceramic vanes have a substantially different coefficient of thermal expansion than the metal support structure such that when heated and cooled, the vanes and support structure expand and contract at different rates leading to undesirable thermal stresses. This problem is exacerbated in multivane segments wherein at least two vane airfoils are joined between common inner and outer shrouds. The present invention solves this problem.